The Roses Are Crying
by The.Lost.Thoughts
Summary: Sakura sleepwalks and when she does she gets hurt. She might jump off a building or beat herself bloody. What would happen if no one was there to stop her? SxS  Sasuke is mildly out of character.


The floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she made her way downstairs. The inn was dark, its inhabitants all gone to bed for the night, sleeping safely in their rooms as she should have been. The wind was howling outside, the rain pattering quietly against the roof, but she couldn't hear any of it. Her mind was trapped within a dream, swirling around her, carrying her down the hall to the stairs, her bare feet padding softly against the floor.

Sasuke looked up as she came downstairs. He'd been unable to sleep due to the storm and had come down stairs in the hope of finding something to amuse himself with. Sakura ignored him and he turned back to the deck of cards resting on the table. He assumed she'd been unable to sleep as well and had come down to keep him company. He was surprised though when instead of sitting down next him he heard the front door open. He glanced up to see her step out into the rain and turn left. Curious, he stood up and moved to the door, peeking out just enough so that he could see, but still stay relatively dry. Sakura was sitting in the mud staring at a thorn bush with a sad look on her face.

Sasuke frowned and looked up at the sky from the doorway. He didn't like being wet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sakura acted like she couldn't hear him. She just kept staring vacantly at the bush. Sasuke glared at her.

"If you don't come inside I'm going to lock you out and you can spend the night out here."

"Shh…" Sakura lifted a hand towards him, her eyes ever locked on the skeleton of the bush. She murmured something Sasuke couldn't hear.

"What?"

Sakura slowly turned to face him. Her eyes were dead and unfocused. "The roses are crying," she repeated.

"Are you asleep?" he demanded. Sakura nodded.

"You've got to be kidding me," he groaned.

Sakura shook her head, her eyes wide and filled with a child like innoncence. "The roses are crying," she said again. "Can't you hear them?"

"Stop this nonsense and come inside before you get sick and die," he snapped. Sakura turned away from him. Sasuke clenched his teeth and finally stepped out into the rain, wincing at the cold mud underfoot. He moved to grab her arm and pull Sakura to her feet as her breathing hitched and her shoulders shook. He hesitated and knelt down next to her.

"Are you crying?" Sakura slowly lifted her head. Sasuke had never seen her look so forlorn. Her eyes were cold with sorrow and rainwater streamed down her face and over her parted lips. Her hair was plastered to her head and her clothes clung to her body.

"They're laughing at them Sasuke." She touched his arm gently. "The stars are laughing at them in their misery." Her sadness vanished and anger replaced it. "You can't ever trust stars you know. Mischievous little things stars, they tell lies and cause all sorts of trouble." She slapped Sasuke's arm and waggled her finger up at him accusingly. "You stupid star," she scolded. "You're nothing but trouble. Very naughty, making the roses cry."

Sasuke had no idea what she was talking about. Sakura froze, the anger fleeing her face as she stared at a point beyond Sasuke's shoulder. He turned but saw nothing.

"No," Sakura whispered, terror filling her face. "No!" She screamed, tearing at the thorn bush with such violence she drew blood. Thrown by her actions Sasuke could only watch. It took a moment for him to react, a moment before he tried to stop her.

"Sakura." He reached for her hands as she grabbed at the branches, breaking them and pulling them to her breast. "Sakura, stop it!"

"No! He can't have them! He'll kill them!"

"Who?"

Sakura whirled on him, rainwater flying from the ends of her hair. "The reaper!" she screamed. "He's coming!" She tore free of his grasp and began pulling at the thorn bush again.

"Come on Sakura, wake up!" He grasped her by the arms and pulled her to her feet. She fought him, struggling to break free.

"I have to help them Sasuke! Help them!" Sasuke struck her across the face, the sound echoing over the sound of the rain. Her breathing came in sucking gasps and she fell against his chest, blinking wildly into the night before collapsing against him. Sasuke hauled her up in his arms with a grunt and carried her back inside. He sat her on the stairs as he fetched a few towels and a basin of water, shaking the rain from his hair.

He picked up the lamp from him table and carried it over. Setting the things down he went back to his room to collect his bag which held bandages and some ointment for her hands. When he returned Sakura was awake, her head in her hands. Sasuke paused on the stairs, watching her. She looked exhausted. Goosebumps ran the length of her arms and legs and she shivered. Sasuke returned to his room and took up a blanket before returning. Sakura heard him coming down the stairs and looked up. Sasuke could see a glowing red mark on the side of her face in the exact shape of his hand. Guilt pooled in the bottom of his stomach, but he pushed it aside and knelt in front of her. He handed her the blanket which she wrapped around herself with another shiver. Water droplets darkened the fabric around her as they fell from her hair and the tip of her chin. He dropped a towel over her head and took her hands, lowering them into the basin of water. Sakura winced, the towel slipping down around her shoulders.

Sasuke took one of the rags he'd taken from the bar and used it to wash the mud off her hands.

Sakura ground her teeth and watched him work in silence. The cuts stung and there wasn't much blood, but her hands and fingers were shredded. She wouldn't be able to hold a kunai for days. Her neck and chest stung too, but she didn't know from what. She was covered in mud too. She knew she must have been sleep walking again, but like always she could remember nothing.

Sasuke must have found her. She couldn't imagine what he must have been thinking. He took her hands and submerged them below the water again before lifting them out again and setting them on a towel draped over her knees. He stood, opening the door and throwing the dirty water out before taking up his seat on the ground in front of her again. He pulled his bag into his lap, digging out the ointment and bandages.

"So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?" he asked.

Sakura's body sagged. "Sleep walking."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "Obviously." He took up one of her hands again, dabbing the ointment into the wounds.

Sakura sighed and launched into her story. "I've had problems with sleep walking since I was a child. I'm not sure why." Her eyes traced the movements of his fingers. "Once, when I was three, I crawled up onto the roof at night. The wind was blowing and for some reason I thought I could fly." A smile tugged at her lips. "So I jumped."

Sasuke looked up at her. "You jumped off your roof when you were three…because you thought you could fly." Sakura nodded. Sasuke's eyes were laughing.

"I can never remember it. When I wake up I have no memory of what happened. Everything I know about these little events my parents told me." She smiled wanly. "I broke both my legs and my left arm in the fall." Sasuke looked up at her from under his eyebrows. Sakura was staring vacantly past their hands.

"Do you see that scar? The one on the inside of my wrist? When I was fourteen I took a stick and beat at my arm, apparently convinced that snakes were trapped beneath my skin and I had to get them out." Sasuke looked at the small scar, a little white mound of skin against bone. He ran his thumb idly over the wound. He'd never noticed it before.

"Here I fell down the stairs, convinced a demon was chasing me." She lifted her hair to reveal a scar running along her hairline. Sasuke looked down, away from the scar and began to bind her hands with strips of clean linnen.

Sakura watched him in silence for a moment. "So what was it this time?" she asked.

A smile tugged at the corner of Sasuke's mouth. "Roses."

Sakura's brow wrinkled. "Roses?"

"Mm-hmm." He dropped his gaze and returned to working on her hands. "You said they were crying. And that the stars were laughing at their misfortune." He smirked up at her. "Apparently you don't like stars either. Mischievous little things," he teased.

Sakura smiled wryly, but leaned forward conspiratorially. "Indeed. Never trust a star. They're always telling lies," she whispered.

"Yes, I believe you said something to that effect."

Sakura smiled again, her gaze returning to their hands. "Thank you," she whispered. "For stopping whatever…this was." She gestured vaguely with her hands. Sasuke waited until her hands stilled before speaking.

"You said something about the reaper coming to kill the roses and started clawing at the thorn bush outside. I couldn't stop you before you tore apart your hands."

Sakura frowned. "One of these days no one's going to be there to stop me," she whispered darkly. "One of these days my sleep walking is going to kill me." She clenched her teeth in anger as Sasuke finished with her hands. He said nothing, but rose to his feet to collect a new rag, wetting it before returning to Sakura's side.

He placed his fingers gently beneath her chin, tilting her head to the side, exposing the expanse of her neck. He tenderly ran the cloth over her skin, wiping away the mud and soothing the cuts across her neck and chest.

"It doesn't look like there are any thorns. We can change the bandages tomorrow," he said. Sakura nodded.

Sasuke dabbed ointment over the marks. Within minutes he was finished.

"Now go to bed. And try to get some sleep."

Sakura nodded, rising to her feet, clutching the blanket to her chest, the towel still draped around her shoulders. Sasuke watched her go before standing and stretching, taking up his place at the table once again. He stayed there for the rest of the night, keeping a watchful eye out for Sakura in case she decided to go on another escapade that night, and every night thereafter.


End file.
